When I joined this community, I was aware of two disparate philosophies regarding the formation of dreadlocks. It seems that most (or the most vocal) contributors to this forum subscribe to a natural philosophy and, as is the way with humankind, believed their philosophy to be the true path. Let it be; all dreading happens on its own. They believe that true beauty lies in chaos and nature, and not by human worksmanship. The forest, they would rightly state, is by far more beautiful than a Christmas tree farm.My outlook at the time sat in harsh contrast to this natural outlook. Art, the imitation of nature to create beauty, is the truest nature of humankind. Everything we create is art of some kind or another. Herbs in food over fire is an art, refined to the very height of mans culture. Music, even the simple beating of a drum to the undulations of a singers throat, is art, and so is dancing. Math and science are arts of thought, the art of problem solving, and it is this art that differentiates our kind from the rest of apekind. Even the bombs we drop are an art, misapplied; an erroneous solution to a fabricated problembut this is not a fault of art, but a fault of the Babylonian society that commands the planets wealth.When I began dreading my hair, I wanted to create art. I wanted to convert my love, effort, and creativity into an expression of what I call my soul. Just as a master prunes a bonsai to imitate the wild tree, I wanted to guide my hair to express my inner nature not outward chaos. But after sectioning, twisting and ripping my whole head of hair, I sense the error in my desire.First, I am not a master, and the error of my hand created a disparity between expression and intention. I have not expressed the art of my soul, but the error of my hand. My hair is now a testament to my fallibility.Second, in an attempt to mimic nature, I have separated myself from nature. I knew this would happen, but five weeks ago, I didnt care. Now I do.Third, I believed, and still have not entirely relinquished the idea that art and nature must be separate. Art can enhance nature .And as I conclude this post, I come to another realization: While art can hone the beauty of nature, nature inexorably destroys art. Permanence is an illusion, but nature develops, while art decays.
updated by @ryan-emmel: 02/14/15 04:14:03PM